Methods and apparatuses for dynamically searching for electronic mail messages

• US 8,209,323 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2011
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chu, Wilson, Vitorino, Elena, Huang, Jimmy, Iijima, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Badawi, Sherief
• Application Number:
  US13/185,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20110270860A1
• Time in Patent Office: 344 Days
• Field of Search: 707/721, 707/713, 707/759, 707/765, 707/761, 707/767, 707/754
• US Class Current: 707/721
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

In one embodiment, an original search input entered is detected. A plurality of stored terms in a record are detected. The original search input is modified to remove an excluded term from the search input to form a modified search input. The modified search input is matched against the plurality of stored terms to form a first result that includes a number of the stored terms. The number of the stored terms in the first result is compared to a threshold value. In response to the number of the stored terms in the first result satisfying the threshold value, the stored terms of the first result are displayed. Otherwise, the original search input is matched against the plurality of stored terms to form a second result that includes a number of the stored terms, and the stored terms of the second result are displayed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing a profile in a record, the profile defining an identity of an entity, the record including at least one excluded term established in the profile that is selectively excluded from search input;

detecting original search input entered by a user on an electronic device;

storing a plurality of terms in the record, the stored terms collected from a plurality of messages associated with the entity;

modifying the original search input to exclude the excluded term stored in the record from the search input to form a modified search input;

comparing the modified search input against the stored terms in the record to form a first result that includes a number of the stored terms that match the modified search input;

comparing the number of the matched terms in the first result to a threshold value;

in response to a positive determination by the comparison that the number of the matched terms in the first result satisfies the threshold value, displaying the matched terms of the first result to the user; and

in response to a positive determination by the comparison that the number of the matched terms in the first result fails to satisfy the threshold value;

matching the original search input against the plurality of stored terms in the record to form a second result that includes another number of the stored terms that match the original search input; and

displaying the matched terms of the second result to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the matched terms of the second result to the user further comprises:

displaying both the matched terms of the second result and the matched terms of the first result to the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the original search input includes a partial search term where less than all the characters of a term are present, and the displaying the matched terms of the first result to the user and the displaying the matched terms of the second result to the user provide suggestions of search terms to the user to replace the partial search term.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

soliciting a selection from the user of one of the displayed matched terms.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the threshold value based on a number of the matched terms originating from the plurality of messages.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the threshold value based on a user preference.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the plurality of messages associated with the entity;

detecting terms with the plurality of messages; and

storing the detected terms as the plurality of stored terms in the record.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

indexing the detected terms prior to storing the detected terms as the stored terms.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the messages are associated with the user as the entity.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the messages are associated with a group as the entity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the messages are electronic mail messages associated with the profile.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of messages are electronic mail messages associated with the user as the entity and the stored terms originate from information within a sender field, a recipient filed, a carbon copy filed, a subject line, a date sent filed, a date received filed, or a body area of the electronic mail messages associated with the user.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a processor operable to execute program instructions; and

a memory to store a profile in a record, the profile defining an identity of an entity, the record including at least one excluded term established in the profile that is selectively excluded from search input, the memory further having stored therein the program instructions that when executed by the processor implement;

a search term detection module configured to detect original search input entered by a user;

a message detection module configured to store a plurality of terms collected from a plurality of messages associated with the entity; and

a search term processor module configured to;

modify the original search input to exclude the excluded term stored in the record from the search input to form a modified search input;

compare the modified search input against the stored terms in the record to form a first result that includes a number of the stored terms that match the modified search input;

compare the number of the matched terms in the first result to a threshold value;

display the matched terms in the first result upon a positive determination by the comparison that the number of the matched terms in the first result satisfies the threshold value; and

match the original search input against the plurality of stored terms in the record, upon a positive determination by the comparison that if the number of the matched terms in the first result fails to satisfy the threshold value, form a second result that includes another number of the stored terms in the record and cause display of the matched terms of the second result to the user.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the display of the matched terms of the second result to the user comprises display of both the matched terms of the second result and the matched terms of the first result to the user.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the match of the original search input occurs on a partial search term where less than all the characters of a term are input, and the display of the matched terms of the first result to the user and the display of the matched terms of the second result to the user provide suggest search terms to replace the partial search term.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the threshold value is selected based on a number of the stored terms in the record.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the messages are associated with a group as the entity.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the messages are electronic mail messages associated with the entity.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the messages are electronic mail messages associated with the user as the entity and the stored terms in the record originate from information within a sender field, a recipient filed, a carbon copy filed, a subject line, a date sent filed, a date received filed, or a body area of the of the electronic mail messages associated with the user as the entity.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a processor to control electric current and in so doing, causes;

storage of a profile in a record, the profile defining an identity of an entity, the record including at least one excluded term established in the profile that is selectively excluded from search input;

detection of original search input entered by a user on an electronic device;

storage of a plurality of terms in the record, the stored terms collected from a plurality of messages associated with the entity;

modification of the original search input to exclude the excluded term stored in the record from the search input to form a modified search input;

comparison of the modified search input against the stored terms in the record to form a first result that includes a number of the stored terms that match the modified search input;

comparison of the number of the matched terms in the first result to a threshold value;

display of the matched terms of the first result to the user responsive to the positive determination that the number of the matched terms in the first result satisfies the threshold value; and

matching of the original search input against the stored terms in the record to form a second result that includes another number of the stored terms that match the original search input and display of the matched terms of the second result to the user responsive to a positive determination that the number of the matched terms in the first result fails to satisfy the threshold value.